Narsingh Yadav tests negative for coronavirus

Narsingh Yadav now has the green signal to participate in the upcoming World Cup in Serbia.

Indian wrestler Narsingh Yadav. - R. V. MOORTHY

Wrestler Narsingh Yadav tested negative for the novel coronavirus on Friday. He, therefore, has the green signal to participate in the World Cup in Serbia.

Making a comeback to competitive wrestling after serving a four-year doping ban, Narsingh had replaced Jitender Kinha in the 74kg in the Indian squad but was rendered doubtful for the competition after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) confirmed that he will travel to Belgrade on December 14 along with the men’s freestyle squad.

'Minor cold'

“I just had minor cold, there was no fever or any other symptom for virus, so I knew that it (test) will be negative. I have been training well for this tournament. We will do well in Serbia,” Narsingh told PTI from Hisar.

Many top wrestlers, including Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat, are skipping the event, anticipating that competition will not be strong. For Narsingh, however, the World Cup, scheduled to be held from December 12 to 18, holds significance.

“Whether it is World Championship or World Cup, it still is an international tournament. I will compete after a long, long time, it will be good exposure for tournaments ahead,” he said.

“It is important to play since the tournament is being held after a long time. We won’t know our level, unless we compete. There were no tournaments due to coronavirus pandemic, so it is very important for me to compete here,” the 31-year-old said.

'Training hard'

India is yet to earn a quota for the Tokyo Olympics in the 74kg category as Jitender fizzled at the 2019 World Championship, which offered quota places.

With the return of Narsingh in this category, there will be a three-way fight among Jitender, Narsingh and two-tile Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar to be India’s representative at the next quota-offering event.

“I was already training hard even during my ban period. It was just that I was not able to compete. I thank the WFI president for letting me compete again. Hopefully, I will qualify for Tokyo,” the 2015 World Championship bronze medallist said.

With the COVID-19 pandemic coming in the way of holding trials, the WFI let all the participants at the 2020 Asian Championship in New Delhi to compete in Belgrade. However, India is sending wrestlers in men’s freestyle 65kg and 92kg and women’s 53kg.

The Greco Roman wrestlers will leave for Belgrade on December 10, the women’s squad on December 12 and the men’s freestyle team on December 14, WFI assistance secretary Vinod Tomar said.

“Due to the pandemic, we are sending team in batches,” he said.